Corruption Africa’s biggest problem: Obasanjo

Kazeem Ugbodaga

Obasanjo: urges African nations to battle corruption

Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented rising wave of corruption in Africa, urging Africa nations to wage war against it.

Obasanjo who delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the First International Conference of the African Studies Association of Africa, ASAA, held on Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria, said one of the main challenges for the African continent is corruption.

At the event hosted by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, the former president stated that corruption negated the deep moral fabric of the African society, saying that to steal from the community is considered a grave offence that puts permanent dent on the integrity and values of the family.

 “But today, the corrupt is venerated. The impression that Africans have a cultural disposition to be corrupt is a travesty of the truth. We are hospitable but hospitality is different corruption,” he said.

Obasanjo said rising waves of corruption in Africa had led to denigration of values, challenging African nation’s government to rise up to the occasion to defeat corruption, saying that “this must not be allowed to continue.”

The former president cited  Enugu State during his tenure as president when the state government obtained a loan of $8 million for the citing of Carpet Industry, but that the money was spent without the ground for the project ever cleared, lamenting that the money was part of the debt the nation had to pay.(TheNEWS offers as a fact that the  loan from a UK bank,  was obtained by Chief Jim Nwobodo, a civilian governor, between 1979 and 1983, outside Obasanjo’s time in power, 1976-1979)

However, Obasanjo said the cold war made things worse for Africa and hindered development in large part as the Europeans oppressed and exploited Africans.

 “We got loans, some dubious, others used to acquire weapons and we ended in debt and instability that gave us only more pains, coups and counter-coups and bad governance. Some of the worst dictators in the world emerged from Africa with the full endorsement and encouragement of outside influence.

 “I wish we do not have to dig into the misery and pains of the past, but history cannot be changed. What we must do is to forge a new front and achieve better outputs today as we write the history for tomorrow. Yesterday is gone but tomorrow is yet to come and the knowledge and understanding of yesterday can make us chart a better course for tomorrow, hence a great history,” he said.